SIX GEORGE MEDALS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20618, 20 November 1941, Page 5

SIX GEORGE MEDALS

CREW OF BOMBED SHIP GERMAN TANK SAVED (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Nov. 18. The George Medal has been awarded to six officers and men for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty at Suez on July 14 to 15 in effecting the salvage of a captured Gei'man tank which had been loaded on the steamer Georgic for shipment to Britain when that ship was ablaze from stem to stern and listing heavily as a result of enemy bombing. The port authorities had advised that the task was impossible but volunteers deliberately faced the risks involved, knowing that importance attached to expert examination of the tank. In spite of the smoke and flames, the party managed to pass slings under the tank which was lifted clear by a floating crane and taken safely ashore. The George Medal also goes to three officers and men for very gallant conduct, courage and resourcefulness on February 8 at Tobruk in removing 90 men from an ammunition ship which had been set on fire by a burning oil tanker colliding with her. The latest awards recognise the heroes of an engagement in which the naval trawler, Lady Shirley,’ compelled a U-boat to surrender after which the U-boat sank.

For “daring and skill in a brilliant action,” Lieutenant I. P. Boucaut, Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve and Sub-Lieutenant F. E. French receive the Distinguished Service Cross and Seaman Sidney Halcraw the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. The seaman was so badly wounded that he was ordered to go below, but he stood to his gun until the action was over and then fainted.